Committee on Health and Human Relations
City Council Meeting September 14, 2021
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the shortcomings within national and local healthcare systems, particularly as it relates to those individuals that are housing insecure; and,
WHEREAS, as a result of multiple factors, many experts feel that a forty percent increase homelessness is possible directly attributable to the pandemic; and,
WHEREAS, the federal financial response packages to the pandemic awarded to states and cities has created a unique, transformative opportunity to establish the necessary infrastructure to not only address but also solve the root causes of poverty and homelessness; and,
WHEREAS, in order to bring Chicago closer to better addressing homelessness, the city must examine and evaluate its human services delivery system and the community partners it funds to determine proper metrics for outcomes, financial sustainability, and most importantly, positive outcomes for residents in need; and,
WHEREAS, in pursuit of breaking the cycle of poverty and homelessness, the City Council and budgetary leaders must understand if funding levels accomplish these current goals as well as what financial funding coordination is required to end homelessness in Chicago; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the Members of the City Council of the City of Chicago, do hereby call for hearings into the matter of breaking the cycle of poverty and homelessness in a transformative way, using federal COVID-19 recovery funds to unify and elevate the human services safety networks in Chicago, and here from expert testimony on the subject matter.